Monday, August 18, 2014

CA proposes parliament body to approve huge sums of government loans

THE Constituent Assembly (CA) committee No. 8 has
proposed the need of having huge sums of money being loaned by the government to
be approved by the union Parliament before use and that, this system should be endorsed
in the current national draft of constitution. The Committee Chairman Job
Ndugai said on Friday last week when briefing journalists on various
deliberations reached by his committee members after they had discussed Chapter
14 of the legal document, article No. 227 and 228 respectively. Article 227 of
the constitution talks about the national debt whereas article 228 speaks about
the authority which the United Republic of Tanzania has in borrowing money from
external sources. Ndungai who is also the Deputy speaker of the national
parliament and an MP for Kongwa constituency (CCM) elaborated over the issue
and clarified reasons for parliament to approve such huge sums of money is to
control the trend of the national debt which keeps on rising year after year. Another
reason he attributed is to let the general public know a certain sum of money
which the government shall have loaned for various development projects, unlike
at the moment whereby the government channels all documentations on loaning
schemes secretly. However, Ndungai did not specified how much money would be
required to be approved by law makers in this case, but noted that to make
things open was better to enable every
citizen know the trend of their national debt. He queried while elaborating
over the matter and noted that suppose the government fails to remit the money
loaned, they should know what steps to be taken thereafter. He also noted that,
his committee members discussed challenges which occur whenever the government
of Zanzibar wants to acquire loan from outside that, it must gets an approval
from the Tanzania mainland. In this case he also noted that, the procedures
should be endorsed by the union parliament. In another development Ndungai
mentioned two proposals which his committee has received since the CA resumed its
business on Tuesday last week. These are people’s opinions which are sent
directly to the committee concerned for endorsement and not for discussion as
such opinions are not within the constitutional draft.

Deputy speaker of the national
parliament and an MP for Kongwa

He said that he had
received one opinion from somebody named Ramadhani Mkangila from Morogoro who
requested all Gods commandments as stated in holy religious books should be
endorsed in the draft constitution. He also mentioned another person by the
name Yassin Alou also from Morogoro who has requested that all cemetery grounds
should have rights and must be respected whatsoever, but could not specified in
what ways they should be respected. The two opinions, he said would be filed to
the administration committee which has the mandate to deal with such opinions
aired by people at this time when the constitution writing process is going on.
On the issue of Ministers to be members of parliament or not, as stated in
Chapter 7 Article 101 of the draft of constitution, he said has caused a split among
his members in such away that they could not reach a consensus and left the
matter to be voted upon by members on 21st this month. Meanwhile,
the CA deputy chairperson of the committee No. 10, Salmin Awadth Salmin said
that, his committee members experienced a challenge when they were discussing
the same chapter and added that, almost half of its members could not reach to
a unanimous decision over the matter. Briefing journalists, Salmin noted that,
the issue of either a minister should be members of parliament or not is still
in a nutshell, but he elaborated some factors his members noted that, ministers
have not enough time to attend parliamentary sessions as most of them do look
at the issues basing on government matters. In view of this some of his members
suggested that, they should be appointed from not among the members of
parliament just like other countries do such as the United States of America,
adding that, some noted that if they would be selected from among the MPs, they
are not in a position to speak against the government even if it is at fault. On
the issue of the government structure in Chapter 6 of the constitutional draft,
he disclosed that, most of his committee members did not support a federal
government structure as endorsed by Constitution Review Commission (CRC). He
further noted that, about 80 percent of his members supported a two tier
government structure when they discussed the chapter which is now closed waiting
for voting exercise scheduled in 2nd September next month.

AWARD 1

I won the second prize in policy category of the African Information society Initiative ( AISI) awards 2004 which is annually organized by the United Nations- Economic Commission for Africa ( UNECA) based in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia. On the first photo above standing with other awardees after the Ceremony at the National Settlers monument in Grahamstown, South Africa.This was during the 8th Highway Africa Conference.The second photo shows the cross section of Jounalists from different African countries who attended the ceremony.

AWARD 2

I also won the AISI-GKP/SDC Media Award special reporting on WSIS process and Africa, and conferred with the award in Tunis, Tunisia during WSIS summit in 2005. See the photo above.

AWARD 3

Winner on the Media Competition on writing about " Stigma denial and Discrimination" associated with HIV/AIDS. This was organized by theAssociation of Journalists Against Aids in Tanzania ( AJAAT). On the Photo above President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania, ( then the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation) was the guest of honour during the award giving ceremony.This was at Maelezo auditorium in Dar-es-Salaam September 2005.

AWARD 4

Winner on the Media Competition on writing about "Vulnerable Children" associated with HIV/AIDS This was organized by the Association of Journalists Against Aids in Tanzania ( AJAAT)

AWARD 5

Winner of the National ICT Media Award organized By SWOPNET in the Country. On the photo above Morogoro Regional Commissioner, Brigadier General ( Rt) Saidi Kalembo was the guest of honour during the award giving ceremony which was held at New Sarvoy Hotel in morogoro town.I was awarded a Mobile phone and a tape-recorder.

AWARD 6

I participated in the Media Competition in writing about VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) in Tanzania which was held between July 15th and October 30th 2008 whereby I emerged among the top five winners. The competition was under the program known as “Tanzania bila Ukwimwi inawezekana” which literally means, Tanzania without AIDS disease transmission is possible”. This is a program which was organizedby the Association of Journalists Against AIDS in Tanzania (AJAAT) under TACAIDS funding. In the photo, I am being presented with a certificate of participation by the Chairman of the Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS) Dr. Fatma Mrisho in a colorful ceremony which was held on 22nd December 2008 at Tanzania Information Centre in Dar es Salaam.

AWARD 7

AWARD 8

AWARD 9

I was among the top 17 best selected students who excelled in their final examinations of the 2010/2011 academic year and awarded with the Vice-Chancellor’s prize. I scored 4.5 GPA (First Class) in BA in Journalism. Above I am being given a certificate by the Chairman of the Open University of Tanzania Board of Senate. Standing at the centre facing camera is the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Tolly Mbwette. Extreme left partly hidden is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Elifas Bisanda. This occasion took place during the convocation meeting, a day before the graduation day at the prospective permanent headquarter of the Open University of Tanzania which is currently under construction at Bungo-Kibaha in Coast region 40 kilometers away west of Dar es Salaam city.